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PRESS RELEASE.
SAN FRANCISCO — Beginning September 21, 2020, Golden Gate National Recreation Area will begin annual wildland fuel reduction and habitat improvement activities at the Rancho Corral de Tierra unit in San Mateo county. This year’s work will focus on tree and shrub thinning and removal in the wildland urban interface near the communities of Montara and El Granada. Project objectives are to decrease hazardous fuel loading of woody material to reduce the risk of large wildfires, and to provide for grassland habitat restoration.
- National Park Service Fire crews and contractors will begin work on September 21, 2020 and may continue through October 2020. Work will occur Monday through Friday between 8:00 a.m. 5:00 p.m.
- Non-native pine, eucalyptus, cypress, cotoneasters, and broom near the park boundary and adjacent to residential communities will be removed.
- Removal of non-native trees and shrubs will improve grassland habitat for native plant species such as Hickman’s cinquefoil which is listed as endangered under the federal Endangered Species Act.
- Large trees to be removed will be flagged 1-2 weeks prior to the start of the project.
- Fuel reduction efforts will lower the wildfire hazard on park land and provide safer access for firefighters during suppression actions if a wildfire should occur.
- Trees will be limbed up to remove “ladder fuels” so lower branches will not carry fire from the ground into treetops. Chipping of tree material will be done on-site and dispersed throughout the area.
- Visitors may experience temporary closures or detours while the fuel reduction work is being performed. Signs will be posted informing visitors which trails are closed.
Golden Gate National Recreation Area, situated in and around San Francisco, is the most visited park in the National Park Service, hosting more than 15 million visitors in 2019. A diverse park with abundant recreational opportunities, as well as natural, cultural, and scenic resources, it encompasses more than 80,000 acres across three counties. The park also administers two other NPS areas, Fort Point National Historic Site, a Civil War era fortress built on the northernmost point of land in San Francisco, and Muir Woods National Monument, which comprises an impressive stand of old growth coastal redwoods in Marin County.
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